Lamb Stew
by littlemisslovelygood
Summary: Caesar Flickerman's POV on part of his interview with Katniss


**this one was written as a request of JesusFreakft. thanks for the great idea!**

Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, walks on to the stage and I shake her hand with a smile that I hope will help her calm down—she looks like she is about to vomit. Poor girl, this is all so new to her. "So Katniss," I begin, "the Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you the most since you arrived here?" I ask, a slight chuckle in my voice. But she looks so confused, so desperate for an answer as she locks eyes with her stylist. I pretend I don't notice as I wait for her reply, and I can't help but feel sorry for her.

"The lamb stew," she replies looking nauseous. I laugh, trying to lighten the mood as her reply was so…different and comedic. The crowd eats it up and laughs along with me. This only makes her look paler, though. I know she is so lost on what to say and I pity her. "The one with the dried plums?" I ask, keeping the smile on my face. She nods, looking slightly better. So she was worried about saying the wrong thing…she doesn't quite have a specific angle like everyone else, but she is trying her best and for that: I commend her.

"Oh, I eat it by the bucketful," she says warming up a bit more. I put my hand on my stomach and turn to the audience with a look of mock horror, trying to get a reaction from them, to help Katniss know she is doing well. "It doesn't show, does it?" They shout reassurances and applaud, and I know Katniss is much more comfortable now that she has the Capitol's audience on her side...

"Now Katniss," I continue, more confident myself now that she is...her nervous energy was rubbing off on me, I suppose, "When you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped." I look at the "Girl on Fire" -a name she got from her fiery debut in the chariots- and tried to judge her facial expressions (she is rather expressive, but you can tell she is trying to hide it) to see if this was an OK topic to discuss. She seems a bit...delicate with what she is willing to talk about, and I don't want to upset her. "What did you think of the costume?" I asked, knowing the rest of the Capitol is probably wondering the same thing.

She looks past my shoulder to where I am assuming her stylist, Cinna, sits. "You mean after I got over my fear of being burned alive?" she asks, a hint of a laugh in her voice and the ghost of a smile on her face. The audience also found this amusing, and they laughed loudly. "Yes. Start then," I try to keep the chuckle out of my voice. She continues to look at him as she replies, "I thought Cinna was brilliant and it was the most gorgeous costume I'd ever seen," she beamed, "And I couldn't believe I was wearing it." She looks down at the glittering gown she is wearing and adds, "I can't believe I'm wearing this either." She lifts up the jeweled skirt and spreads it out for the audience to see. It looks like she is holding fire in the palms of her hands as she exclaims "I mean, look at it!"

The Capitol _ooh_'d and _ah_'d at the shimmering crystal flames as Katniss stood up and twirled around in the dress. "Oh, do that again!" I plead, she seemed to be enjoying herself, it was fun to watch and the crowd loved it. She lifted her arms and spun in a circle again. She looks like she is engulfed in tongues of fire and the audience cheers for her. She stops and clutches my arm. "Don't stop!" I respond, laughing and disappointed that it was over...It had seemed almost magical. "I have to!" she cried, giggling, "I'm dizzy!"

I wrap a protective arm around her. The nerves and spinning seem to have gotten to her: she doesn't seem like the giggling type. Well at least she is less tense... "Don't worry, I've got you." I smile and say, "Can't have you following in your mentor's footsteps." The cameras turn to Haymitch Abernathy and everyone hoots. He is famous now for his head dive at the reaping. He waves the cameras away good-naturedly- all though he looks like he has a lot he wants to say...probably very smart to not say it- and points them back to us.

"It's all right," I reassure the crowd. "She's safe with me." I smile and turn back to the girl on the couch. "So," I begin, "How about that training score. E-le-ven." I put as much emphasis on the word as I can. Eleven in training, amazing! I would imagine people lining up already to sponsor her...or at least considering it. "Give us a hint what happened in there." She looks uncertainly to the balcony where the Gamemakers sit and bites her lip. "Um..." she responds, "All i can say, is I think it was a first." She chuckles slightly. The Gamemakers are also chuckling and nodding, now the cameras are trained on them.

"You're killing us," I say, faking immense pain. "Details. Details." She looks at the balcony again, almost as if for reassurance. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, right?" One of the Gamemakers responds, "She's not!" Katniss smiles and says, "Thank you." She looks back at the audience apologetically. "Sorry." She tells them. "My lips are sealed."

I decide to ask about something else the Capitol is probably equally curious about. "Let's go back then, to the moment they called your sister's name at the reaping." I start, much quieter and calmer. "And you volunteered," I continue. "Can you tell us about her?"

She looks to Cinna again, probably trying to just talk to him. It's clear on her face that she doesn't want to talk about it, but she will anyway for whatever reason. There is some grief on her face that tears at my, and probably the rest of Panem's, heart. "Her name is Prim," she said. "She's just twelve. And I love her more than anything." Everyone is so quiet, hanging on her every word and pause. You could hear a pin drop...the silence seemed almost unbreakable, and I don't want to break it. But I have to, so I ask very quietly and somberly, "What did she say to you?" I add as an explanation, "After the reaping?" Katniss swallowed hard and responded, "She asked me to try really hard to win." The audience is frozen solid, waiting for what will come next. All of their hearts go out to her, hurt for her. You can see it on their faces, and probably mine as well. "And what did you say?" I prompt gently. We need to hear the rest of this story before her time is up... Katniss went rigid and tense and her voice seemed to have dropped an octave when she spoke. "I swore I would."

"I bet you did." I gave her a reassuring squeeze and the buzzer went off. I plaster a fake smile back on my face and say, "Sorry we're out of time. Best of luck, Katniss Everdeen, tribute from District Twelve." _Best of luck..._ I think. I really hope she makes it back, for her sake and the sake of her sister Prim.

The applause and cheering that followed was deafening.


End file.
